Hi, I’m Jason Canon, a PhD candidate in political theory at the University of Cambridge. The Novice is where I think and write aloud. Most of what’s here will be wrong; I chose the site’s title to remind me of this, a sort of public commitment to beginner’s mind. I hope that you will join me in the learning.
The Story So Far
0-9: Born Jason Michael Swadley, 1985 vintage. Wanted to be a fire hydrant when I grew up. Grew up in Fair Grove, Missouri (population 919). Sang in the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.
10s: First kiss. Built my first computer. Shook the president’s hand on a visit to the White House with the U.S. Senate Youth Program. Graduated in a class of 50 from Fair Grove High School. Started at Drury University. Accidentally drove a moped off a cliff in Greece.
20s: Launched the website where the Hackintosh was born. Studied abroad in London. Sold website to some Brits.
Graduated college. Read books, though not too many. Earned master’s from the University of Chicago. Started Ph.D. at Brown. Founded The Art of Theory, a political philosophy quarterly. Visited my 50th state. Lost myself. Returned home to reorient.
30s: Took what work I could find: salesman, call center operator, caregiver for my grandmother. Added her family’s name to my own. Moved to Virginia to advance the frontiers of liberal thought. Started to write for what felt like the first time. Published my first journal article, Three General Wills in Rousseau.
Moved to England to start a PhD at Cambridge.
Say hello
@jasonscanon on facebook
@uncanonical.bsky.social on bluesky/fediverse